Reviews
" Philosophy before the Greeks is a sophisticated, erudite, strikingly original, well-argued, and richly documented study that will stand alone in ancient Mesopotamian studies." --Benjamin Foster, Yale University, "A landmark study by one of the leading scholars of cuneiform civilization, Philosophy Before the Greeks radically expands and deepens our understanding of the Babylonians' ways of conceiving and knowing the world. Transcending the hackneyed listing of Babylonian 'firsts' in world civilization, Marc Van De Mieroop gleans the epistemological substructure of Mesopotamian thought by delving deeply into the Babylonians' system of cuneiform writing, their practice of divining the future through omens in natural phenomena, and their creation of codes of law. The result is a brilliant and novel view on how the Babylonians both discovered and constructed the world around them." --Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, "Van De Mieroop is a highly respected Assyriologist, and his book provides a broad introduction to the intellectual principles which informed the long-lived and steady literary culture of 'Babylonia.'" ---D. L. Dusenbury, Times Literary Supplement, "Van De Mieroop is a highly respected Assyriologist, and his book provides a broad introduction to the intellectual principles which informed the long-lived and steady literary culture of 'Babylonia.'" --D. L. Dusenbury, Times Literary Supplement, "Van De Mieroop has written a very stimulating book on an important subject that has been ignored for too long. Philosophy before the Greeks will reignite the debate over Babylonian philosophy and make it relevant to scholars beyond the confines of Assyriology." --John Steele, Brown University, "Were this book a live performance, I would stand and applaud with vigor. . . . I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in ancient history and philosophy. The clarity with which Van De Mieroop establishes his ideas result in a detailed, well-explained, and absolutely intriguing pioneer study on Babylonian epistemology and philosophy. . . . For such . . . a well-written, critical examination of what constitutes Babylonian philosophy, one would be foolish not to purchase and read it." -- Biblical Review, Were this book a live performance, I would stand and applaud with vigor. . . . I highly recommend this book to anybody interested in ancient history and philosophy. The clarity with which Van De Mieroop establishes his ideas result in a detailed, well-explained, and absolutely intriguing pioneer study on Babylonian epistemology and philosophy. . . . For such . . . a well-written, critical examination of what constitutes Babylonian philosophy, one would be foolish not to purchase and read it., Van De Mieroop is a highly respected Assyriologist, and his book provides a broad introduction to the intellectual principles which informed the long-lived and steady literary culture of 'Babylonia.' ---D. L. Dusenbury, Times Literary Supplement
